spanish                                           dutch                                       english

             Términos y Condiciones, Derechos de Autor, Políticas de Privacidad, Colabora con CF
             Copyright 1999-2009 . All Rights Reserved      
             Dr. Govert Westerveld
            Calle Barrio Nuevo, 12-1 -  30540 BLANCA  (Murcia) España
            Telefono  34  96 6708283          Skype:  govert.westerveld
            Email: govertwesterveld@gmail.com


             
  
        
        


 
          
The First International Webpage of the

history of draughts
/ history of checkers

is a private,"non-profit",
cultural initiative of
FMJD (World Draughts Federation) is the international sport body uniting national draughts federations.
FMJD is member of GAISF and strives for Olympic recognition. Our strength is in the unity of draughts.
Chess & Draughts Historian:
José Antonio Garzón Roger

(Foto: Nadja Woissin - (Chessbase)
Official Member of the Historical Commission of the  FEDA
Garzon:
"Many historicns  have intended to make the history of the game of checkers (draughts) without the game of checkers, ie without taking into account the document themselves, technical books and manuscripts; indeed all of them are Spanish ones, outrageous". 
THE HISTORY OF DRAUGHTS OR THE HISTORY OF CHECKERS BASED ON DOCUMENTS.
My draughts historical book of 2004 will be translated in English. Gradually the translated chapters will be put here on this page. Part I was written in 1997 with the help of the dutch draughts historian Rob Jansen from Amsterdam.

Part II was written between 2002-2003 and finished in 2004 with the help of the Spanish chess historian José Antonio Garzón Roger from Valencia. We both belong to the Historical Comission of FEDA, directed by the President and wife of Dr. Ricardo Calvo, Mrs. María Carmen Romeo Pérez.

1997
Part I
The influence of the Queen "Isabel la Católica" on the new powerful dama in the origin of the draughts and modern chess game. 
(Govert Westerveld)

2004
Part  II
Introduction (Govert Westerveld)

Scachs d'amor: The Definitive Proof of the Valencian origins of Modern Chess   (José Antonio Garzón Roger)

Timoneda's book on draughts (1635) and its connection with modern
chess  (José Antonio Garzón Roger)

Epilogue (José Antonio Garzón Roger)
In recent years,  José Antonio Garzón Roger, Dr. Ricardo Calvo and Gofredo Valle de Ricote (Pseudonym for Govert Westerveld) have published many books concerning Francesch Vicent, Lucena, and his father Juan Ramírez de Lucena, viz:

Westerveld, Govert (1997). La influencia de la reina Isabel la Católica sobre la nueva dama poderosa en el origen del juego de las damas y el ajedrez moderno. En colaboración con Rob Jansen, Amsterdam. (Prólogo de Dr. Ricardo Calvo y Prof. Dr. Juan Torres Fontes). Editor Govert Westerveld, Beniel. ISBN 84-605-6372-3 - 329 páginas.

Calvo, Ricardo (1997). Lucena. La evasión en ajedrez del converso Calisto. (Prólogo de Fernando Arrabal). Perea Ediciones, Pedro Muñoz (Ciudad Real). ISBN 84-7729-217-5
- 181 páginas

Pérez de Arriaga, Joaquín (1997). El incunable de Lucena. Primer arte de ajedrez moderno. Ediciones Polifemo, Madrid. ISBN 84-86547-38-5   -  597 páginas

Castellví, Francí de; Vinyols, Narcís; Fenollar, Bernat (1475-1999), (Scachs d'amor). El poema Scachs d'amor: (siglo XV): primer texto conservado sobre ajedrez moderno / análisis y comentarios por Ricardo Calvo. (Prólogo de José Antonio Garzón Roger). Editorial Jaque XXI, Madrid. ISBN 84-923279-3-6   -  150 páginas

Garzón Roger, José Antonio (2001). En pos del incunable perdido. Francesch Vicent: Llibre dels jochs partits dels schachs, Valencia, 1495. Biblioteca Valenciana, Colección Bibliofilia, Valencia 2001.  ISBN  84-482-2860-X        -       192 páginas

Westerveld, Govert (2004), La reina Isabel la Católica, su reflejo en la dama poderosa de Valencia, cuna de ajedrez moderno y origen del juego de damas. En colaboración con José Antonio Garzón Roger, Valencia. (Prólogo de Prof. Dr. Juan Torres Fontes). Generalidad Valenciana, Secretaria Autonòmica de Cultura. ISBN 84-482-3718-8 - 426 páginas.

Garzón Roger, José Antonio (2005). El regreso de Francesch Vicent. La Historia del nacimiento y la expansión del ajedrez moderno. (Prólogo Anatoli Karpov). Generalidad Valenciana. Consellería de Cultura, Educació i Esport: Fundació Jaume II el Just, Valencia. ISBN 84-482-42193-2  -  500 páginas

Garzón Roger, José Antonio (2005). The Return of Francesch Vicent. The history of the birth and expansion of modern chess; translated by Manuel Pérez Carballo. (Foreword Anatoli Karpov). Generalidad Valenciana. Consellería de Cultura, Educació i Esport: Fundació Jaume II el Just, Valencia. ISBN 84-482-42194-0   - 500 páginas

Valle de Ricote, Gofredo  (2006), Los tres autores de la Celestina, el judeoconverso Juan Ramírez de Lucena, sus hijos Fernando de Rojas (Lucena) y Juan del Encina (alias Bartolomé Torres Naharro y Francisco Delicado). Tomo I: Biografía, estudio y documentos del antiguo autor de la Celestina, el ajedrecista Juan Ramírez de Lucena. (Prólogo Prof. Dr. Ángel Alcalá). Editor Govert Westerveld, Beniel. ISBN 84-923151-4-8 - 441 páginas

Garzón Roger,  José Antonio (2007). Estudio del tratado ajedrecístico de Luca Pacioli, Valencia.   - 57 páginas

Valle de Ricote, Gofredo (2008), Los tres autores de la Celestina, el judeoconverso Juan Ramírez de Lucena, sus hijos Fernando de Rojas (Lucena) y Juan del Encina (alias Bartolomé Torres Naharro y Francisco Delicado). Tomo II: El libro perdido de Lucena. "Tractado sobre la muerte de Don Diego de Azevedo". Editor: Govert Westerveld, Blanca. ISBN 84-612604-0-9 - 142 páginas.

Valle de Ricote, Gofredo (2009). Los tres autores de La Celestina: El judeoconverso Juan Ramírez de Lucena, sus hijos Fernando de Rojas (Lucena) y Juan del Encina (alias Lucena, Bartolomé Torres Naharro y Francisco Delicado). Tomo III: El misterioso Juan del Encina. Editor Govert Westerveld, Blanca. Editor:  .ISBN: 13:978-84-613-2191-9                                   - 351  páginas

Valle de Ricote, Gofredo (2009). Los tres autores de La Celestina: El judeoconverso Juan Ramírez de Lucena, sus hijos Fernando de Rojas (Lucena) y Juan del Encina (alias Lucena, Bartolomé Torres Naharro y Francisco Delicado). Tomo IV:   La Celestina: un señuelo, Fernando de Rojas, y un autor velado, Juan del Encina. Editor Govert Westerveld, Blanca. ISBN:  13:978-84-613-2189-6    -  261 páginas
   Historian: Rob Jansen
       (University of Amsterdam)
Before his death the great historian and friend, Dr. Ricardo Calvo from Madrid urged Garzon to join forces to write the history of the new powerful dama. The result of that was that the second part of the following book was dedicated to Dr. Ricardo Calvo.

La reina Isabel la Católica, su reflejo en la dama poderosa de Valencia, cuna de ajedrez moderno y origen del juego de damas. In collaboration with José Antonio Garzón Roger, Valencia. Foreword of  Prof. Dr. Juan Torres Fontes. Edition of the Generalidad Valenciana, Secretaria Automómica de Cultura. ISBN 84-482-3718-8.   
Febrero de 2004,       426 pages.


A reinvestigation of the historian Garzón in Italy confirms my many views that  the draughts game was invented in Spain in the sixteenth century. The reinvestigation in question is treaten in the following book:

GARZÓN ROGER, José Antonio
The Return of Francesch Vicent. The History of the Birth and Expansion of Modern Chess. Valencia: Fundación Jaume II el Just. Generalitat Valenciana, december, 2005.  Editions in Spanish and English,  500 pages.

This work is praised by the specialists from around the world, it accredites and provides further evidence on the poem Scachs d'amor (pp. 329-351), their dating and significance, and the first draughts books and their connection with the Modern Chess (pp. 109-112, 169-186, 382-387).

Garzon demostrates that the book of Lucena (Repetición de amores, y Arte de ajedrez, 1497) bears in the part of chess (Arte de Ajedrez) the translation of the work of Francesch Vicent (1495). Who was this mysterious Lucena? Until 2006 the historians did not know the biography of his father, the ambassador of the Catholic Monarchs, Juan Ramírez de Lucena. The book of Gofredo Valle de Ricote (2006) with the help of Professor Ángel Alcala (New York) ended with this mystery.
Chess Historian
Dr. Ricardo Calvo
Lélio Marcos y Victor Cantalapiedra
(http://www.wmsg-draughts.org)
Bibliographer of old Spanish
Draughts Books.
Victor Cantalapiedra Martín
Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the Autonomous University of Madrid
Great Cross of "Isabel la Católica".
Dr. Luis Suárez Fernández
All researchers agree that Prof. Luis Suárez Fernández is a historian of the highest eminence in the world of the queen "Isabel la Católica". This professor wrote an favourable article about my book of 2004 in the Bulletin of the Royal Academy of History (Real Academía de Historia), 2006, Volume III cuaderno CCIII-September-December, pp. 381-383. He wrote some 20 books on "Isabel la Católica".
Professor Emeritus of Spanish Literature University of New York City:
Dr. Ángel Alcalá accompanied by José Antonio Garzón and Govert Westerveld
Dr. Alcalá is world's best expert of Juan Ramírez de Lucena and has written more than 30 books.
Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the University of Murcia:
Dr. Juan Torres Fontes
Discovered the draughts  book of Josef Antonio García García (1792) in Murcia.

El Professor Torres Fontes, great lover of Marc Bloch stated ounce:
"I recall the words of M. Bloch, a founder of the School of the "Annales" saying  that historians should be judged not by what they know, but  what they are investigating"
.
Profesor Emeritus of Harvard University:
Dr. Francisco Márquez Villanueva

Expert on the subject of  "La Celestina," "Cervantes",  "Moriscoes" and Juan Ramírez de Lucena.
Sponsor of this website,company engaged in the development of natural plant polyphenols against:
neurodegenerative diseases, cholesterol and obesity.
With my  thanks to the world chess and draughts champions that do believe in the connection between modern chess and the birth of the game of draughts, vindicating the Spanish (and more precisely, the Valencian) origin of it all.
José Antonio Garzón Roger; Anatoly Karpov, world chess champion (several times during 1973-1999)  and draughts historian Govert Westerveld.
Harm Wiersma, world draughts champion ( 1976, 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1984) and chess historian José Antonio Garzón Roger.  
The lawyer and politician, Mr. Esteban González Pons (here on the photo),  is now the right hand of President Rajoy, leader of the opposition party PP at Madrid. During an interview of the newspaper El Mundo,  the reporter asked the opinion of Mr. González Pons with respect to certain questiones of the party of  the President of the Nation, Mr. José Luis Zapater. It is interesting to see that our politician González Pons replied
some questions in chess terms:

"All kings are always two or three plays from  a check, but there is no danger if you know how to avoid it and  if it is clear to you where the dama is.  Every chess player knows that the important thing in the game is not the king, but the dama (queen). One may lose the king, but one does not lose his dignity if you have kept the dama (queen)"

(El Mundo, saturday 4th of abril, 2009.  XXI Year, number 7.047).
Govert Westerveld; Consuelo Ciscar (secretary of Culture), José Antonio Garzón Roger and the Minister of Culture,
Mr. Esteban Gonzalez Pons, during the presentation of the draughts history book of Govert Westerveld, Valencia, february, 2004.
Josñe Antonio Garzón Roger during the presentation of his history book of chess, in presence of world champion Anatoli Karpov and the Minister of Culture, Valencia, 2005.
www.juegodelasdamas.com
     My late lamented draughts friend
          Baba Sy from  Senegal.
                           World champion of 1963
The greatest natural talent in the history of checkers